They say a rising tide lifts all boats. Atlanta United 2's 2026 season might just be the best example of that age-old phrase.
Arif Kovac is officially MLS NEXT Pro's Most Valuable Player, announced today after he finished the regular season as the Golden Boot winner and a member of NEXT Pro's Best XI. The forward scored 20 goals and chipped in 3 assists up top for the 2s in 26 appearances.
Kovac addressed his team when he received the news yesterday.
"I couldn't have done it without you guys," the forward said. "It means a lot, to everyone, for the sport. Thank you guys."
Head coach Jose Silva followed Kovac with the truism of the day.
"This is not possible [just] one person, it's the team."
And that's just about the best way to sum up what was a historic season for Atlanta United 2: Collective chemistry and success enabling individual excellence and development.
After all, all this individual success for the players wouldn't mean nearly as much without the team accomplishments to boot. Atlanta United 2 broke its record points total, reached its highest seed and competed in the MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs for the first time in club history.
Led by head coach Jose Silva and assistant coaches Will Bates and Lewis Sharpe, the 2s built a squad based on belief. They believed that something the club had never accomplished was possible, and they instilled that belief in each player down the roster.
"I think the staff has been fantastic," said Javier Perez, Atlanta United's Director of Methodology. "The staff has been working with the players, has been working with him. I think the mental work behind the scenes and giving him the platform [not to] feel pressure but feel confident enough to flourish and bring his full potential on the field."
Perez himself was an influence throughout the club's season as well, helping assemble the roster and make moves throughout the season to bring Academy players up and First Team players down for 2s matches.
And that was yet another characteristic of the team that made for such a special season — the contributions were coming from players at all levels of the club.
"[It's] how we build that skeleton so the new players, they can come compete and develop into the next level," Perez said. "It comes down to player selection, being disciplined with the player profiles that we are choosing, and then go out there and find those players and have those negotiations to bring them into the team."
It wasn't just Kovac's heroics that led them there. Cameron Dunbar and Dominik Chong Qui were also named to the Best XI. Atlanta United 2's three placements tied them for most of any NEXT Pro club.
Bringing players like Chong Qui and Adrian Gill down from the First Team for significant playing time in 2s matches gave the side a needed injection of experience and footballing knowledge. But Academy contributions — players like Andrew Jardines and Ignacio Suarez-Couri playing up with the 2s before eventually earning professional contracts — were just as vital.
"It's earned trust," Chong Qui said. "It's not just blind trust. [The players] earned it in training, in the Academy games, First Team games. It's all earned."
Chong Qui, a fullback, and Dunbar, a midfielder, make it one player from each outfield position group in the Best XI. That level of balance across the squad doesn't just happen by chance.
Dunbar, MLS NEXT Pro's Playmaker of the Year, was an acquisition from Orange County SC and a massive addition to the 2s. He had 9 goals and a league-record 13 assists in the regular season, also adding a league-best 72 key passes.
His connection with Kovac was Atlanta United 2's bread and butter this season.
"I've always worked really well with strikers like that throughout my career where I can play off of them and then try to create," Dunbar said. "I start to see his movements, he starts to see what I do with the ball. I start to know where his positioning is going to be on the field. When I start to get the ball, I know where he's going to be and I know what I can do with the ball and set each other up, play off of each other."
All the right things are going down inside the building and outside on the pitch at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground. Ask anyone in and around the 2s, and they'll tell you the atmosphere this year was different.
"[The staff] made it a really enjoyable experience for training, and while still pushing us hard every day, they still made it enjoyable to come in, brought the team together and made it a team," Chong Qui said. "I attribute a lot to them, but also the players. The players come in every day and do their jobs, and that's all you can ask."
